Saturday, October 6, 2012

Not the best possible follow-up to the previous post, but it sure was easier to process! We're returning to BASIC here, but it's 15 years later (QBasic, actually, current as of MS-DOS 5.0, June 1991, and not the 1996 release date of this program.) That makes for brutally simple (and simply brutal, in this case) games that are however easy for a reader to follow along with and in this case, very easy to mark up for online "play", however unrewarding. I've left much of the source code instructions in for period flavour, only omitting screen printing, colour and pause information that I can't represent here.

Please note that the author in all likelihood has moved on over the past 16 years and won't be reachable at the address they enclose, so there's likely not much point in writing in there even if you do want to encourage him with a shiny dollar.

You can find the game's original source code (and a somewhat justified scathing review) over here; I'm sure the young man has gone on to greater things but sadly for him us nostalgic weirdos haven't. The Internet has a long memory and one of its specialties is periodically churning up the long-forgotten sediment.

*****This is the BEATEN Readme*****

This is a QBasic game. It is very limited. It is my first game however. If you like this game, please help
support the shareware concept and send $1 to:

Eddie Tomayko
12 Lofton Drive
Arkadelphia, AR 71923

Enjoy!

15 PRINT "BEATEN: An Interactive Adventure by Eddie Tomayko"
30 PRINT "Copyright 1996, All Rights Reserved"
40 PRINT "Serial/Release No. 708/348"
100 PRINT "You wake up. It's been a long day, not to mention night."
110 PRINT "You have an immense hangover."
120 PRINT "Maybe you should have avoided those 10 beers last night."
130 INPUT "You may get UP, go back to SLEEP, or get some ASPRIN."; a$170 PRINT "You stand up. The room spins wildly around you."
172 PRINT "Suddenly you lose your balance. You fall forward face first."
173 PRINT "You crack your head on your dresser. You black out."
174 GOTO 2000180 PRINT "You fall back into sleep. You sleep for several hours."
182 PRINT "You wake up to the sound of breaking glass."
183 PRINT "You are defenseless as a gang of vigilanties beat you."184 PRINT "Eventually you lose consciousness. Death finally arrives."
185 GOTO 2000190 PRINT "You take some asprin and sit down for a while."
192 PRINT "Your hangover finally goes away. You look at the clock. It reads 10 AM."
193 INPUT "What do you want to do now? You may go OUTSIDE, turn the TV on, or SLEEP."; b$200 PRINT "You turn on your TV. You switch the channel to the news."
202 PRINT "The newscaster says something about a band of armed vigilanties."
203 PRINT "He says that they are armed and dangerous."
204 PRINT "Ha! You think to yourself. Those newscasters will say anything to get ratings!"
205 PRINT "At that moment you hear the sound of breaking glass."
206 PRINT "A band of club-brandishing vigilanties enter the room."207 PRINT "You are defenseless as the gang beats you senseless."
208 GOTO 184210 INPUT "You leave the house and start your car. Roads lead NORTH, EAST, and WEST."; c$220 INPUT "You pull up to the pub you were in last night. Do you ENTER or go BACK"; d$224 PRINT "You enter and have a couple of beers. And a couple more. And even more still.."
226 PRINT "Drunk as hell, you wander into the street and are hit by a passing car."
227 GOTO 2000230 PRINT "You drive up to a pawn shop. A sign on the door says -Open-"
232 PRINT "You open the door and enter the pawn shop."
233 PRINT "You search your pockets. All you have is $5."
234 INPUT "You can buy a GUN, or a BLACKJACK."; e$240 PRINT "As you are driving along, you see a pile of money on the ground!"
242 PRINT "You get out and start to pick it up. A gang of vigilanties approaches you."
243 PRINT "They tell you that the money is now theirs. They say you must pay or be beaten."
244 INPUT "You can PAY $100, or BEAT them if you have a blackjack"; g$246 PRINT "The gang takes the money, and then decides to beat you anyway."
247 GOTO 207250 PRINT "You buy a gun from the shopkeeper. He seems to have a strange glint in his eye."252 PRINT "You drive back to your house. You decide to test the weapon."
253 PRINT "You aim it at a nearby tree and pull the trigger."
257 PRINT " BOOM!!!!"
261 PRINT " BOOM!!!!"
265 PRINT " BOOM!!!!"
271 PRINT "The gun explodes in your hand. You fall to the ground, bleeding profusely."
272 PRINT "You die slowly and painfully. I wouldn't have trusted that shopkeeper!"
273 GOTO 2000280 PRINT "You buy a blackjack. The store owner seems to have a strange glint in his eye."
282 PRINT "You don't like the store owner's attitude. That glint is annoying too."
283 PRINT "You beat him mercilessly with your blackjack into a bloody pulp."
284 INPUT "You can steal the GUN, or the MONEY."; f$290 PRINT "You steal the gun from the shop."
292 GOTO 252300 PRINT "You take [sic] bust open the cash register. There is $100 in it. You take it."
302 PRINT "As you are leaving you remember your $5. You retrieve the bloodstained cash."
303 PRINT "You get in your car and drive back home."
304 GOTO 210310 PRINT "You take out the blackjack and brutally beat each member of the gang."
312 PRINT "As they lie unconscious on the ground, you beat them until they stop breathing."
315 PRINT " Congratulations!"
316 PRINT " You have avoided being BEATEN!"
318 PRINT "I hope you enjoyed it!"
319 END2000
2001 INPUT "You have died. Would you like to play again?"; z$
2002 IF z$ = "yes" THEN GOTO 15
2003 IF z$ = "no" THEN END